Are Zionists still trying to persuade Jews that they're a race, as this Jew writes they were in the 1940s?

Question

"The plain fact is that we Jews are not a race and we should not let the Zionists persuade us that we are."

The Reader's Digest, Volume 55 (1949)
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=31QQAAAAIAAJ&q=%22The+plain+fact+is+that+we+Jews+are+not+a+race+and+we+should+not+let+the+Zionists+persuade+us+that+we+are.%22&dq=%22The+plain+fact+is+that+we+Jews+are+not+a+race+and+we+should+not+let+the+Zionists+persuade+us+that+we+are.%22&hl=en&ei=4VVjTbvBGsKy8gPJ56TxCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA

Answer 1

You seem to have a shallow understanding on race and it's perception of it, especially in the Jewish sense. It's nothing obvious, so I hope you don't take offense to that statement. I'm not blaming you for not having it.



Now, in the 1940's, no one really knew anything about modern biology, genetics, or ethnic theory. They had racial theory - that there was a white race, a black race, a Mongoloid race, etc. Jews were also a race - the "racial other".



This view was certainly held in popular belief throughout must of the world. In America yes, but more so in Europe. Make no mistake: At this time, Jews were believed by everyone, physicians and respectable scientists included, to be so racially different that you couldn't really call them white.



Btw, race and the theory of it is scientific hogwash. Race doesn't exist outside of the human race, and it was created to justify one perceived race's dominance over the other. Not race, but just a group. Skin color was chosen because it was the most obvious thing. Why couldn't it be eye color instead? Basically, race is baloney.



Now, given that, what's to stop the Jews from rejecting that IF THEY WERE RECEIVING THE FULL BLUNT OF IT. They didn't know better than many of the scientists at the time who still accepted the theory of race, and it made no difference in how they were treated. That, and the fact that, while Judaism is a religion, there is the fact that most Jews of this time were descended from ethnic groups that were practically exclusively Jewish.



Now, at this time, it's becoming clear about what truths concerning race are. This guy is one example. However, concerning your condemnation of certain Zionists and their views towards race: Now, it would be a horrendous mistake; but, then, it was something to consider. At least, if the Jews as a whole rejected the notion, it wouldn't stop them from being treated as such. Case and point would be the Nazis, who saw them as so racially other that they were contamination and had to be dealt with.



Today, Zionists really aren't trying to say that. Maybe some might argue ethnicity, which is valid, but race is something that is invalid, and quite honestly I don't remember any Zionist that I've heard raise his point as a racial one. At least, I would hope that those who argue "race" mean ethnicity, since there is also the problem that the two, while similar concepts, are not actually the same.



So, NO.

Answer 2

Jews are race but Zionists aren't they're a figment of some Atheist guy's Imagination

Answer 3

Judaism can be thought of as being simultaneously a religion, a nationality and a culture.



Throughout the middle ages and into the 20th century, most of the European world agreed that Jews constituted a distinct nation. This concept of nation does not require that a nation have either a territory nor a government, but rather, it identifies, as a nation any distinct group of people with a common language and culture. Only in the 19th century did it become common to assume that each nation should have its own distinct government; nationalism. In fact, Jews had a remarkable degree of self-government until the 19th century. So long as Jews lived in their ghettos, they were allowed to collect their own taxes, run their own courts, and otherwise behave as citizens of a landless and distinctly second-class Jewish nation.



Of course, Judaism is a religion, and it is this religion that forms the central element of the Jewish culture that binds Jews together as a nation. It is the religion that defines foods as being kosher and non-kosher, and this underlies Jewish cuisine. It is the religion that sets the calendar of Jewish feast and fast days, and it is the religion that has preserved the Hebrew language.



Is Judaism an ethnicity? "the extremely close affinity of Jewish and non-Jewish Middle Eastern populations observed ... supports the hypothesis of a common Middle Eastern origin". According to another study of the same year, more than 70% of Jewish men and half of the Arab men (inhabitants of Israel and the territories only) whose DNA was studied inherited their Y-chromosomes from the same paternal ancestors who lived in the region within the last few thousand years. The results are consistent with the Biblical account of Jews and Arabs having a common ancestor.



Another research has suggested that, in addition to Israelite male, significant female founder ancestry might also derive from the Middle East-with 40% of Ashkenazim descended from four women lived about 1000–1500 years ago in the Middle East. In addition, Behar (2006) suggested that the rest of Ashkenazi mtDNA is originated from about 150 women, most of those were probably of Middle Eastern origin. Approximately 32% of people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry belong to the mtDNA haplogroup K.



If you are referring to a nation in the sense of race, Judaism is not a nation. People are free to convert into Judaism; once converted, they are considered the same as if they were born Jewish. This is not true for a race.

Answer 4

You can not convert to being black, you can not convert to being Asian, Native American and so on. These are races. You MUST be born into a race. You can adopt a culture, but NOT a race any more then you can become a horse. You CAN convert in (and out) of Judaism.

Answer 5

the jews are most definitely a race. you can even be an atheist or a muslim but still remain jewish.

Answer 6

Why are you asking ? Who said we are ??



In the 1980s, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Jews are a race, at least for purposes of certain anti-discrimination laws. Their reasoning: at the time these laws were passed, people routinely spoke of the "Jewish race" or the "Italian race" as well as the "Black race," so that is what the legislators intended to protect.



But many Jews were deeply offended by that decision, offended by any hint that Jews could be considered a race. The idea of Jews as a race brings to mind nightmarish visions of Nazi Germany, where Jews were declared to be not just a race, but an inferior race that had to be rounded up into ghettos and exterminated like vermin.



But setting aside the emotional issues, Jews are clearly not a race.



Race is a genetic distinction, and refers to people with shared ancestry and shared genetic traits. You can't change your race; it's in your DNA. I could never become black or Asian no matter how much I might want to.



Common ancestry is not required to be a Jew. Many Jews worldwide share common ancestry, as shown by genetic research; however, you can be a Jew without sharing this common ancestry, for example, by converting. Thus, although I could never become black or Asian, blacks and Asians have become Jews (Sammy Davis Jr. and Connie Chung).

Answer 7

My opinion as a MOTT, is that we are sort of a sub-race, if you will.



Part of the Semites, which means we have more in common with our neighbors and cousins than some of us want to admit.

Answer 8

hitler thought we were, the spanish thought we were during the inquisition, anyone wanting to kill jews always said we were....



dna, now shows that we are... even sephardic and ashkenazi jews have been found to have dna that is similar to 4 th cousins.



to be honest, i could give a rats doo doo whether you think we are or not, you really dont count for anything in my life.

Answer 9

Their ethnicity is Arabs, Africans and Eurasians. Their Religion is Zionism not Judaism...do not mix the Corrupted Testament with the Human ideology.

Answer 10

its arguable that the majority are kinda as a lot dont marry outside the religion

Answer 11

They are not a race my friend. The invention of "historical Jewish people" is one of the biggest lies in modern history.

http://palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story682.html